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A Delta Air Lines jet takes off from Ronald Reagan National Airport in the Washington, D.C., area. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Delta Air Lines reaches a deal with United Airlines that lets it continue flying from Dallas Love Field for six months.

Delta initially had a deal to stay at the city-owned airport until Jan. 6, but we’ve reported the carrier has kept flying beyond that deadline. The Dallas City Council and city attorneys yesterday met behind closed doors to discuss “legal issues related to gate accommodations” requested by Delta at Love Field, according to the council’s executive-session agenda.

The new deal gives Delta the right to use one of United’s two gates at Love Field for 180 days. It’s unclear what will happen after that.

It’s Jan. 6 today, the day Delta Air Lines was supposed to stop flying out of Dallas Love Field under an agreement with city officials.

Well, Delta is still flying at Love — and its unclear for how much longer that will last as the carrier and city officials continue to try to find a long-term solution to the fight about gate use at the city-owned airport. The Dallas City Council is scheduled to discuss the issue tomorrow in a closed-door, executive session meeting.

Virgin America is the only carrier “doing a fantastic job” of offering a healthy menu, ranking No. 1 among 13 major airlines. Fort Worth-based American Airlines was No. 7 and its sister carrier US Airways ranked No. 8. (The two airlines merged in December 2013.) Dallas-based Southwest Airlines was No. 9.

Here’s a more detailed chart I created based on the analysis by DietDetective founder Charles Platkin:

Delta had hoped to use one of these empty gates at Dallas Love Field. (Vernon Bryant/The Dallas Morning News)

On Monday, the city of Dallas told Delta Air Lines it will no longer be able to fly out of Love Field as of Oct. 13. The Atlanta-based airline has been flying from the city-owned airport since 2008.

On Tuesday, we found out why: United Airlines says it will expand service from Love Field to Houston in January and it will let Dallas-based Southwest Airlines use one of its two gates at Love Field. Dallas’ aviation director Mark Duebner said there was no room for Delta to continue — and increase — flying.

Today, my colleague Robert Wilonsky wrote more that Duebner’s statement apparently conflicts with documents the city filed in 2009 with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Price of seven U.S. airline stocks on Google Finance after the stock market closed today.

Fears about the Ebola disease deflated U.S. airline stocks today — one day after public health officials reported the nation’s first confirmed Ebola patient had flown from Liberia to Dallas two weeks ago.

UPDATED AT 3:45 P.M.: Overall, seven U.S. airline stocks declined more than the Dow Jones stock index’s drop of 1.4 percent today. During the day, all seven stocks traded lower than their closing prices — down as much as 5.2 percent (United Airlines).

The U.S. Ebola case is “pressuring airline stocks a little bit,” Stifel Financial Corp. analyst Joe Denardi told Bloomberg News. “The worse the news headlines get about this, the more risk there is to airlines.”

U.S. carriers operate only a handful of flights to Africa, where the Ebola virus outbreak is concentrated. Any potential financial threat to the U.S. airline industry would occur if travelers cut back on flying for fear of exposure to Ebola, similar to what happened with severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, Denardi said.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden yesterday said there was “zero risk of transmission” of Ebola on the commercial airline flight which carried the Ebola patient. In a live briefing yesterday from Atlanta, he said the person showed no symptoms before boarding the plane and was not contagious.

The Associated Press today identified the patient as Thomas Eric Duncan, based on an interview with his sister.

The name of the airline and the route of travel have not been disclosed.

Shares of American and Southwest declined even though both companies yesterday said they weren’t involved with the Ebola patient.

An American Airlines spokeswoman said the airline “was told the passenger was not on a connecting flight involving our aircraft.” A Southwest spokesman said the CDC has not contacted it and has “no information about Southwest being involved in any way.”

No airlines serve Africa directly from Dallas airports and none of the major U.S. carriers with overseas networks — American, United and Delta Air Lines — fly to Liberia. However, the patient could have arrived in Dallas from connecting flights in another country or U.S. city.

The patient arrived in the United States on Sept. 20 to visit family, developed symptoms on Sept. 24 and was admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas on Sept. 28. The patient, who is critically ill, is being kept in isolation at the hospital, according to the CDC.

A Dallas city official today told Delta Air Lines that it can no longer fly from Dallas Love Field as of Oct. 13 — the same day the Wright Amendment expires at the city-owned airport and other airlines will expand their flying.

The full story by my colleague Robert Wilonsky is on The Dallas Morning News‘ City Hall blog.

One day after Southwest Airlines launched special fares of $99 or less to 15 new cities from Dallas Love Field, some competing carriers have matched or come close to that price but only on certain days in certain cities from mid-October to mid-November.

As of 3 p.m. yesterday, only one airline — Virgin America — matched Southwest’s special one-way fares of $99 on some routes, according to Tom Parsons, chief executive of BestFares.com.

Today, Fort Worth-based American Airlines, which flies out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, is matching Southwest’s $198 round-trip fares to Los Angeles but only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, Parsons said. American also today is coming close to matching Southwest’s prices to Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa, Fla., and Nashville at $218 round trip, he said.

In comparison, American’s cheapest flight to New York LaGuardia from mid-October to mid-November is around $328 round-trip.

US Airways, which is a sister airline to American, is offering $198 round-trip to its Phoenix hub.

A spokesman for American and US Airways said the carrier doesn’t comment on pricing or airfares.

One reason why matching fares are spotty or non-existent by rival airlines is that Southwest’s travel time table is “so far out,” Parsons said. “Why give it away at $198. The low fares are pretty much to tourist destinations, not business destinations except LA.”

To complicate pricing matters, some airlines have fare sales that may or may not be related to Southwest.

Frontier Airlines is offering $98 round-trip fares from Dallas to Denver in October, Parsons said. And Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have a $189 round-trip fare sale to Las Vegas, San Diego and Ontario, Canada, from September through mid-October, he said.

Southwest’s introductory Dallas fares are available through May 23 for travel between Oct. 13 and Dec. 17 to the first seven cities, and for travel Nov. 2 to Dec. 17 to the final eight cities. The fares do not apply to flights Nov. 22-26 and Nov. 28-Dec. 1.

U.S. airlines carried 52.4 million total passengers in February — basically flat from a year earlier — as the number of flights declined, according to data released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Among the top 10 U.S. airlines, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, excluding AirTran Airways, saw the largest gain in the number of passengers boarding planes (enplaned passengers), up 6.2 percent to just under 7.9 million people for the year ended February.

The number of U.S. and international (systemwide) flights fell 5 percent in February. Passengers flew slightly longer flights.

Fort Worth-based American Airlines saw a 0.2 percent increase to about 6.4 million enplaned passengers and its US Airways subsidiary saw a 8.7 percent drop to about 4.4 million enplaned passengers. The American Eagle regional carrier saw a 5.6 percent decline to nearly 1.3 million enplaned passengers.

Here are some other details for February:

* The number of U.S. passengers decreased 0.5 percent to 45.5 million, while the number of international passengers increased 2.6 percent to 6.9 million.

Southwest Airlines offers some of the most Wi-Fi connectivity on U.S. flights, according to a new report by the travel website Routehappy.

The Dallas-based is No. 2, after Delta Air.

Southwest’s numbers are actually higher if you include AirTran Airways. The two airlines merged two years ago, but their systems are still being integrated.

Overall, fliers will find Wi-Fi on 38 percent of U.S. flights if they want to use their smartphones, laptops and tablet computers when allowed, according to the report. The service seems to be more prevalent on longer flights.

Here are some other findings from Routehappy:

* The most connected U.S. route is between Los Angeles to San Francisco and New York, but Atlanta flights (Delta’s home base) have a significant amount of Wi-Fi, too.

* Long-haul Boeing 737 jets tend to have the most Wi-Fi. Bombardier CRJ regional jets have the least.

* Fliers get the most bang for their buck by paying for Wi-Fi in economy class seats with more than 30 inches between the seats – enough room to open a laptop — and on flights of 500 miles or more.

* Another important feature to stay connected during a flight is in-seat power for electronic gadgets. Delta and American provide the most in-seat power along with Wi-Fi.

* Only 6.5 percent of international flights from the United States offer some type of Wi-Fi.

Routehappy analyzed flights scheduled for July 7 through its proprietary database to produce this report.